All 50 Uses of
minute
in
The Count of Monte Cristo
- Well, by means of these lines, which are in accordance with the double motion of the earth, and the ellipse it describes round the sun, I am enabled to ascertain the precise hour with more minuteness than if I possessed a watch; for that might be broken or deranged in its movements, while the sun and earth never vary in their appointed paths.
Chpt 17-18 (definition 1)minuteness = accuracy
- If you wish me to enter upon the more difficult part of the business, you must assist me by the most minute information on every point.
Chpt 17-18 (definition 1)minute = detailed
- "There shall not be one a minute longer than you please," said Dantes, who had followed the working of his thoughts as accurately as though his brain were enclosed in crystal so clear as to display its minutest operations.
Chpt 17-18 (definition 2) *minutest = smallest
- Dantes reflected, as he worked, on the shout of joy which, with a single word, he could evoke from all these men, if he gave utterance to the one unchanging thought that pervaded his heart; but, far from disclosing this precious secret, he almost feared that he had already said too much, and by his restlessness and continual questions, his minute observations and evident pre-occupation, aroused suspicions.
Chpt 23-24 (definition 1)minute = detailed
- Then, should anything appear to merit a more minute examination, Albert de Morcerf could follow up his researches by means of a small gate, similar to that close to the concierge's door, and which merits a particular description.
Chpt 39-40 (definition 1)
- You may easily imagine with what eagerness I welcomed him, and how minutely I related the whole of what I had seen and heard.
Chpt 45-46 (definition 1) *minutely = carefully (with attention to detail)
- Apprised in time of the visit paid him, Monte Cristo had, from behind the blinds of his pavilion, as minutely observed the baron, by means of an excellent lorgnette, as Danglars himself had scrutinized the house, garden, and servants.
Chpt 45-46 (definition 1)
- The blow had struck home, and Danglars was entirely vanquished; with a trembling hand he took the two letters from the count, who held them carelessly between finger and thumb, and proceeded to scrutinize the signatures, with a minuteness that the count might have regarded as insulting, had it not suited his present purpose to mislead the banker.
Chpt 45-46 (definition 1)minuteness = attention to detail
Uses with a very common or rare meaning:
- No, for I think he never liked me since the day when I was silly enough, after a little quarrel we had, to propose to him to stop for ten minutes at the island of Monte Cristo to settle the dispute—a proposition which I was wrong to suggest, and he quite right to refuse.†
Chpt 1-2 (definition 3)
- Pere Pamphile had seen Dantes pass not ten minutes before; and assured that he was at the Catalans, they sat down under the budding foliage of the planes and sycamores, in the branches of which the birds were singing their welcome to one of the first days of spring.†
Chpt 1-2 (definition 3)
- Edmond, at the approach of his patron, respectfully placed the arm of his affianced bride within that of M. Morrel, who, forthwith conducting her up the flight of wooden steps leading to the chamber in which the feast was prepared, was gayly followed by the guests, beneath whose heavy tread the slight structure creaked and groaned for the space of several minutes.†
Chpt 5-6 (definition 3)
- Now, as a quarter-past one has already struck, I do not consider I have asserted too much in saying, that, in another hour and thirty minutes Mercedes will have become Madame Dantes.†
Chpt 5-6 (definition 3)
- Your orders do not forbid your telling me what I must know in ten minutes, in half an hour, or an hour.†
Chpt 7-8 (definition 3)
- They halted for a minute, during which he strove to collect his thoughts.†
Chpt 7-8 (definition 3)
- They waited upwards of ten minutes.†
Chpt 7-8 (definition 3)
- I will but go and return, sire; I shall be back in ten minutes.†
Chpt 9-10 (definition 3)
- Ten minutes afterwards Villefort reached his hotel, ordered horses to be ready in two hours, and asked to have his breakfast brought to him.†
Chpt 11-12 (definition 3)
- Three days passed—seventy-two long tedious hours which he counted off by minutes!†
Chpt 15-16 (definition 3)
- The fourth and last side of your cell faces on—faces on—stop a minute, now where does it face?†
Chpt 15-16 (definition 3)
- During these hours of profound meditation, which to him had seemed only minutes, he had formed a fearful resolution, and bound himself to its fulfilment by a solemn oath.†
Chpt 17-18 (definition 3)
- "There shall not be one a minute longer than you please," said Dantes, who had followed the working of his thoughts as accurately as though his brain were enclosed in crystal so clear as to display its minutest operations.†
Chpt 17-18 (definition 3)
- These horrible chills, which make my teeth chatter and seem to dislocate my bones, begin to pervade my whole frame; in five minutes the malady will reach its height, and in a quarter of an hour there will be nothing left of me but a corpse.†
Chpt 19-20 (definition 3)
- He waited ten minutes, a quarter of an hour, half an hour,—no change took place.†
Chpt 19-20 (definition 3)
- He heard hasty steps, the creaking of a door, people going and coming, and some minutes afterwards a turnkey entered, saying,— "Here is the brazier, lighted."†
Chpt 19-20 (definition 3)
- At seven o'clock in the evening all was ready, and at ten minutes past seven they doubled the lighthouse just as the beacon was kindled.†
Chpt 23-24 (definition 3)
- After ten minutes' labor the wall gave way, and a hole large enough to insert the arm was opened.†
Chpt 23-24 (definition 3)
- After having stood a few minutes in the cavern, the atmosphere of which was rather warm than damp, Dantes' eye, habituated as it was to darkness, could pierce even to the remotest angles of the cavern, which was of granite that sparkled like diamonds.†
Chpt 23-24 (definition 3)
- Dantes led the owner of the yacht to the dwelling of a Jew; retired with the latter for a few minutes to a small back parlor, and upon their return the Jew counted out to the shipbuilder the sum of sixty thousand francs in bright gold pieces.†
Chpt 25-26 (definition 3)
- Nevertheless, had Caderousse but retained his post a few minutes longer, he might have caught a dim outline of something approaching from the direction of Bellegarde; as the moving object drew nearer, he would easily have perceived that it consisted of a man and horse, between whom the kindest and most amiable understanding appeared to exist.†
Chpt 25-26 (definition 3)
- Upon issuing forth from his subterranean retreat at the expiration of five minutes, he found the abbe seated upon a wooden stool, leaning his elbow on a table, while Margotin, whose animosity seemed appeased by the unusual command of the traveller for refreshments, had crept up to him, and had established himself very comfortably between his knees, his long, skinny neck resting on his lap, while his dim eye was fixed earnestly on the traveller's face.†
Chpt 25-26 (definition 3)
- "Stop a minute," answered Caderousse; "we might be interrupted in the most interesting part of my story, which would be a pity; and it is as well that your visit hither should be made known only to ourselves."†
Chpt 25-26 (definition 3)
- Five minutes after, it was down; and we sailed under mizzen-tops'ls and to'gall'nt sails.†
Chpt 29-30 (definition 3)
- "We did better than that, sir," said the old sailor respectfully; "we put the helm up to run before the tempest; ten minutes after we struck our tops'ls and scudded under bare poles."†
Chpt 29-30 (definition 3)
- 'That's the example you set, Penelon,' cries the captain; 'very well, wait a minute.'†
Chpt 29-30 (definition 3)
- Ten minutes after she pitched forward, then the other way, spun round and round, and then good-by to the Pharaon.†
Chpt 29-30 (definition 3)
- Its agent, who will in ten minutes present himself to receive the amount of a bill of 287,500 francs, I will not say granted, but offered me three months.†
Chpt 29-30 (definition 3)
- Morrel fell back in his chair, his eyes fixed on the clock; there were seven minutes left, that was all.†
Chpt 29-30 (definition 3)
- The minute hand moved on.†
Chpt 29-30 (definition 3)
- Then he turned again to the clock, counting time now not by minutes, but by seconds.†
Chpt 29-30 (definition 3)
- At the end of ten minutes the vessel begins to roll heavily and settle down.†
Chpt 31-32 (definition 3)
- Soon the water rushes out of the scupper-holes like a whale spouting, the vessel gives a last groan, spins round and round, and disappears, forming a vast whirlpool in the ocean, and then all is over, so that in five minutes nothing but the eye of God can see the vessel where she lies at the bottom of the sea.†
Chpt 31-32 (definition 3)
- Gaetano consulted with his companions, and after five minutes' discussion a manoeuvre was executed which caused the vessel to tack about, they returned the way they had come, and in a few minutes the fire disappeared, hidden by an elevation of the land.†
Chpt 31-32 (definition 3)
- Gaetano consulted with his companions, and after five minutes' discussion a manoeuvre was executed which caused the vessel to tack about, they returned the way they had come, and in a few minutes the fire disappeared, hidden by an elevation of the land.†
Chpt 31-32 (definition 3)
- In ten minutes Luigi and the traveller reached the cross-roads.†
Chpt 33-34 (definition 3)
- At the end of ten minutes the bandit made them a sign to stop.†
Chpt 33-34 (definition 3)
- At the sixtieth minute of this hour, if the money is not forthcoming, he blows out the prisoner's brains with a pistol-shot, or plants his dagger in his heart, and that settles the account."†
Chpt 33-34 (definition 3)
- Some few minutes had elapsed, and the stranger began to show manifest signs of impatience, when a slight noise was heard outside the aperture in the roof, and almost immediately a dark shadow seemed to obstruct the flood of light that had entered it, and the figure of a man was clearly seen gazing with eager scrutiny on the immense space beneath him; then, as his eye caught sight of him in the mantle, he grasped a floating mass of thickly matted boughs, and glided down by their help to…†
Chpt 33-34 (definition 3)
- "I beg your excellency's pardon for keeping you waiting," said the man, in the Roman dialect, "but I don't think I'm many minutes after my time, ten o'clock has just struck on the Lateran."†
Chpt 33-34 (definition 3)
- Is not a day divided into twenty-four hours, each hour into sixty minutes, and every minute sub-divided into sixty seconds?†
Chpt 33-34 (definition 3)
- Is not a day divided into twenty-four hours, each hour into sixty minutes, and every minute sub-divided into sixty seconds?†
Chpt 33-34 (definition 3)
Definitions:
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(1) (minute as in: minute description) detailed (including even small considerations); and/or careful (done with care)
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(2) (minute as in: minute size) small, exceptionally small, or insignificant
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(3) (meaning too common or rare to warrant focus) Much more commonly, minute and minutes refer to a period of time lasting 60 seconds.
Less commonly, they refer to a measurement of angle where 60 minutes make up a single degree, and where a right angle has 90 degrees and a circle has 360 degrees.